Shahana Goswami

Biography:

Actress Shahana Goswami is from India. She is the daughter of Omkar Goswami, an Indian writer and economist. She rose to fame in the 2008 musical drama Rock On!!, for which she received the Best Actress Filmfare Critics Award. For her role in Firaaq (2009), she received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She went on to appear in television shows including A Suitable Boy (2020) and movies like Heroine and Midnight’s Children (2012). Since then, Goswani has starred in the independent motion pictures Santosh (2024) and Zwigato (2023).

Goswami met Shaanu Sharma, a talent consultant, through her theatrical network, and she was requested to try out for Naseeruddin Shah’s directorial debut, Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. When she went to the production company for another job, she later discovered the minor part of Boman Irani’s daughter in Reema Kagti’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.

She auditioned for the lead role in Arjun Bali’s Ru Ba Ru, which was directed by Percept Picture Company and starred Randeep Hooda, after a cinematographer who saw her work in Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota suggested her. Goswami experienced Ru Ba Ru while she was still a college student, finishing her degree.

Long before she was cast in Rock On!!, she tried out for the movie in Bangkok. At the time, her name was recommended to Abhishek Kapoor, the director of Rock On!, by her friends Shaanu Sharma and Simran, who were in the middle of the casting process. She later tried out for the movie and was cast as Debbie, which was her big break. She won the Filmfare Best Actress (Critics) prize for her performance.

She then made an appearance as a Mumbai taxi driver in the music video for Dido’s song “Let’s Do the Things We Normally Do.” Siddharth Sikand took the video. She also appeared in a Fevicol commercial that was set in a Rajasthani village in between.

Goswami’s first foreign endeavor was the 2013 adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Midnight’s Children, by Deepa Mehta. In the Sri Lankan film Vara: A Blessing, which was directed by Khyentse Norbu (director of The Cup and Travellers and Magicians), Goswami portrayed the primary female character. Her performance in the movie earned her the Asian Award for Best Actress.

She landed one of the main parts in Tu Hai Mera Sunday in 2016, and critics gave it favorable reviews. Festival des Cinémas d’Asie – Vesoul 2016: Under Construction, starring Goswami and producer and director Rubayat Hossain, Goswami appeared in Bombay Begums directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, starring Pooja Bhatt, Amruta Subhash, Plabita Borthakur and Aadhya Anand